Finnish brewers can never get it right. If they raise prices, consumers complain. If they drop prices, the government objects.

Following the consolidation in the Danish brewing industry Royal Unibrew finds itself straddled with more breweries than are economically feasible.

Ulrich Kallmeyer, CEO of Radeberger Group, estimates that beer consumption in Germany will decline 4 percent this year.

Warsteiner admits to a 7 percent drop in draught beer volumes, some of which may have been caused by the ban on smoking.

With collective bargaining talks having failed, employers and workers place their hope on arbitration. Should there be no agreement, strikes will be imminent.

Is a new European brewing giant waiting in wings? On 28 January 2008, Heineken announced that it has established a joint venture with Efes Breweries International.

On the 1st of December, 2007, Oliver Pfeiffer (42) took over the business divison filter aids at Lehmann & Voss & Co. in Hamburg. He is successor to Thomas Antz, who had suddenly and unexpectedly died in November 2007. O. Pfeiffer had previously been manager of logistics at Lehmann & Voss & Co.

The water treatment company Elga Berkefeld, a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, has developed a process for removing uranium from drinking water. It was firstly presented at the BRAU Beviale European trade fair for the beverages industry. Elga Berkefelds sister-company, Krüger WABAG, developed together with the Karlsruhe Research Centre and ATC Dr. Mann e. K., Obrigheim, a process which re-moves the heavy metal highly selectively. The core component of the system, which is marketed under the name Uranex^®, is a filter with a highly-effective synthetic adsorp-tion material through which the water flows. This process was adapted by Elga Berke-feld to meet the special needs of beverage production.

Last February, Damm, Spain’s beer market leader, ordered a complete line for its El Prat de Llobregat facility near Barcelona. The line will produce different brands of beer in 33 and 50 cl cans at a rate of 90,000 cans per hour. High points of the deal include an innovative electronic volumetric can filler, the Starcans FM, and a complex integrated logistics project.

The Indian beer market has enormous potential. It’s still in the build-up phase, but the growth rates look extremely promising. Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany, regards the Indian subcontinent as one of the key markets of the future. Krones and the Indian company Indian Dairy Machinery Company (IDMC) have accordingly agreed on a long-term alliance at this timely juncture, as they announced on the BRAU Beviale 2007 in Nuremberg. Free collaboration and joint pitches with quotations for numerous brewery projects have been practised since 2001.